Jean-Michael Seri may have yet to show Fulham fans why he nearly completed a dream move to Barcelona in the past but Claudio Ranieri is under no illusions to how important he is to his new side.

The 27-year-old hasn't had the start to life at Craven Cottage many fans though he would have when he completed a big money move to west London from Nice in the summer - a transfer that turned heads across European football.

At the time it seemed that Tony Khan had pulled off the coup of all coups.

Only the week before Seri had still continued to be linked with the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea while the year previously he had nearly made the switch from the south of France to the Nou Camp.

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In the past, Xavi, the Catalan legend who won pretty much everything there is to win with club and country during his time with Barcelona and Spain, described Seri as having 'Barca DNA' and believed the midfielder had all the qualities to make it in Catalonia.

"He would do so well at Barca. He can play anywhere in the middle. He is fantastic. He has what they call the Barca DNA,” Xavi explained to Le Parisien at the time of his links with Barcelona.

“I'm not used to seeing such talent in midfield any more. The short game, long game, tactical intelligence, long-range shooting, personality, organisation of the play...”

(Image: Clive Rose/Getty Images)

We've seen all of that at Fulham at one stage or another, but not regularly enough for Seri to be considered a successful signing at this stage in time.

His long-range effort against Burnley was stunning, but it's the only goal he's scored this season and while his intelligence on the football pitch is clear to see with his disguised passes, it hasn't adapted to the quick pace of the Premier League yet which was painfully obvious when both Fernandinho and N'Golo Kante won the ball off him in midfield to hit Fulham on the counter-attack in the Manchester City and Chesea losses.

Ranieri's success at Leicester City was hinged on Kante - the Frenchman was brilliant in the deep midfield role, winning tackles and recycling possession as the Foxes won the most unlikely of Premier League titles.

He doesn't have that at Fulham. In fact, there's very few teams in world football that possesses anywhere near that kind of player, but in the past Seri has been described as a Xavi/Kante hybrid - he's able to unlock a defence with one pass but has a formidable work ethic when it comes to breaking down opposing attacks and regaining the ball.

His new manager knows how important that rare skill set is and ahead of the trip to Manchester United on Saturday, Ranieri wants to see Seri continue to improve week by week.

"In Nice he played so well two years ago; he was fantastic," Ranieri said.

Jean-Michael Seri's season so far

So far this season Jean-Michael Seri has:

Made the joint most appearances (15, with Aleksandar Mitrovic and Ryan Sessegnon)

The second most amount of game time (1,175, Mitrovic has the most with 1,346 minutes)

The most amount of passes (836, Denis Odoi is next with only 569)

The most touches of the ball (1,046, Maxime Le Marchand is next with 828)

The second most amount of tackles (27, Le Marchand has the most with 30)

The third most amount of blocks (six, behind Alfie Mawson (10) and Odoi (12))

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Too often this campaign he's floated through games and had no real impact on stringing things together for his side, while defensively teams have found it too easy to play through him in the midfield.

But since Ranieri has come in, he's changed formation to a 4-2-3-1 where Seri has reverted to the defensive midfield position he played regularly for Nice and is supported by Calum Chambers.

That seems to have sparked Seri back into life - he is free to work with Chambers and break up play knowing he will be supported by his partner which has given him a confidence boost in the middle of the park.

It's also allowed him to play from deep again which is where he works best.

(Image: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire)

We saw against Leicester just what Seri is about when he put himself about the pitch, breaking up attacks before receiving the ball in pockets of space and splitting open the defence with those disguised passes that the Ivory Coast man himself has said are his speciality, having copied Xavi's skill.

“Xavi did it all the time for Barcelona and I tried to copy him. It’s a trick I’ve worked hard at and tried to master,” Seri has been quoted as saying in the past.

Only earlier this week Ranieri asked fans to be patient with their 27-year-old summer signing, quoting Arsene Wenger who said it takes six months at least for player to adapt to the rigours of the Premier League.

There's no doubting that Seri has improved in the short time he's spent under Ranieri, but with a busy Christmas period coming up and with Fulham desperate for points, they need their talented man to start turning the Burnley and Leicester performances in more often.

His last season at Nice may have been so-so according to Ranieri, but the Italian needs to find a way to get Seri to recapture the form that pushed him to the brink of signing for Barcelona.